Even the benefits which come to those who participate in other religions,
or who discover God in nature, exist by and are instances of the grace
of Christ.

Thus, there is the possibility of being an “anonymous Christian”—loving
God and proclaiming “Jesus is Lord” through one’s
life, without formal membership in the Church or knowledge/recognition
of the explicit message of the Gospel.

Grace is Ecclesial

Grace always ‘connects’ the person to the Church, the
Body of Christ and People of God

This may be a connection through the mystical body of Christ without
actual membership in a particular community of Christians

Questions: Explicit Christianity

What level of explicit consciousness of the Personal God is required
for salvation?

“Purgatory.” Is there a type of duration between death
and final communion with God?

“Limbo.” Can a human person arrive at the end of earthly
existence without having arrived at the use of freedom and without having
made a personal decision for or against God? (I.e., is the idea of “Limbo”
necessary?)

“Final Option.” Does Rahner’s idea of a ‘final
option’ devalue Baptism by giving both baptized and non-baptized
persons the same possibility of salvation and beatitude?

Definitions

Heaven: Fullness of communion with God and the saints.

Hell: Exclusion of God’s companionship by human freedom; eternal
“punishment” of the whole person, due to this free decision
to exclude God.

Purgatory: The possibility of purification, sanctification, progress
in the love of God after death, i.e. ‘after’ the definitive
decision for God, but ‘before’ definitive communion with
God. In no way is Purgatory to be equated with the punishment of the
damned.

Limbo: The eschatological ‘place’ reserved for those who
died without the opportunity to choose for or against the Gospel of
Christ.

It is described in terms of natural beatitude but not beatific
vision; the person is not punished for sin which is not personal
(i.e. for original sin).

This idea is not dogmatically defined. Is it possible to live
without making a choice for or against God? Is there such a thing
as natural beatitude without beatific vision which does not entail
a type of ‘punishment’ for non-personal/original sin?

Timeline

“soul”------------------------------------------------------End

| Second
Coming of Christ

|BeginningIndividualIndividualGeneral Resurrection &

|CreationBirthDeath & JudgmentUniversal Judgment

Predestination

God’s will that each individual become conformed to the image
of Christ, i.e. be saved; God’s universal salvific will.

Basic Assumptions

God’s action is not in time.

The logical and metaphysical priority of God’s free will.

Our destiny is not determined, like fate, but is a free choice.

Rationale

God desires the salvation of all.

God offers grace to each person.

Human free will exists; we cannot deny it.

Human free decision generates a free ‘permanent’ attitude
(i.e. a habit) of free will exercised in a particular (positive
or negative) direction.

God knows what to us is “future.”

But, this knowledge does not destroy human freedom since it is
not “future” to God.

No one is predestined to evil/damnation; God’s grace cannot
be the cause of evil or damnation.

No one can predict with absolute certainty whether or not he/she
will be saved.

On the part of God, one can have absolute certainty of hope.

But, on one’s own part, one cannot predict with absolute
certainty one’s own free sins or virtue.

Conclusions

The Church upholds

the true freedom of human creatures in regard to their own salvation/”predestination,”
as well as

and of supernatural gifts (image of God), vocation (call to salvation,
humanity perfectly liberated for loving relationship with God and
others)

and supernatural aims/goals (everlasting life, vision of God, intimate
union with God and the saints through participation in the divine
life).

The Grace of Revelation

The making known of the universal salvific will of God in Christ
reconciling the world to Godself

The making known of Godself in the process (and as the primary agent)
of this reconciliation.

he Grace of Salvation/”Predestination”

The gift of God moving us, persuasively, to a salvific end -- i.e.
to liberation from evil and for a life of freedom in the love of God.

Grace and Eschatology

There is continuity between the theology of grace/salvation and
eschatology.

The Holy Spirit (which is the Spirit of Christ) gives the fundamental
continuity between this life and the next.

But, there is also discontinuity, a radical break between our present
darkened vision of God and the future promise of knowing even as we
are known.

The eschatological goal of humanity is the completion of the salvific
will of God for each person (if that person says “yes”
to God and God’s will for salvation).

All Grace Is the Grace of Christ

the life and love of God himself ‘shed abroad in our hearts
by the Holy Spirit which is given to us.’

Christ is the agent of Creation

God creates by Word and Spirit, and the Spirit is the Spirit-of-Christ.

Christ is the Fulness of Revelation

In the Hebrew Scriptures, revelation comes about through God’s
Word.

In the New Testament, revelation comes about through God’s
Word-made-flesh.

In the entire life, the words and deeds, of Jesus Christ is revealed
the nature of God as a God-for-us, and the activity of God who is
reconciling us (indeed the whole world) to Godself.

Nowhere is this more clear than when the Word of God actually takes
on human nature and limitations, human life and history, to invite
and begin the intimate relationship of love with God-made-manifest.
[Heb. 2:14-18]

Christ is the Agent of Salvation

The Incarnation of Christ is the re-creation of the human race,
reformation into the image of God.

It also makes irrevocable not only God’s offer of loving relationship
with each of us, but also God’s permanent attachment to humanity
(and to the entire world) through the hypostatic union of the human
and divine natures in Christ.

God has indeed taken on our humanity, not just temporarily,
but in a permanent union with the divine nature.

And, fundamentally, this means that we are able to “become
partakers of the divine nature” [2 Pet 1:4] through solidarity
with Christ (in Baptism, Eucharist, etc.).

Christ Is the Agent of Our Eschatological Goal/End

Christ will come as Judge and as Shepherd

He will gather all the people of his fold together to present them
to the Father.

The grace of Christ gives us the power to say “yes”
to this end

The initial aim which was given to humanity in creation (and to
each of us when we personally came into existence) sets us on a trajectory
toward this salvific end; and the grace of forgiveness and reconciliation
continually draws us back on this track to this goal.

Christ as forerunner has shown us the way; Christ as brother strengthens
us, by the Spirit, to continue on this way, faithfully, in the hope
that does not fail.

Through Christ, Even Now, Christians Participate in this Eschatological
Reality/Goal

Even now, we participate in the beatitude of vision and communion
with God (though through a glass, darkly); even now we share in the
new covenant of Christ’s body broken and blood poured out to
strengthen, nourish, and bind together and to God all those who were
far off.

This happens through Liturgy, and especially through the Eucharistic
celebration.

It happens through daily living in the body of Christ.

While the world is far from perfect, glimpses of that final,
divine perfection break through even now.

Individuals grace our lives with the sacramental presence of
Christ in the Spirit.

We are called and chosen to be Christ to one another, to be
the hands of God in the world, sharing in God’s project
of re-creation and renewal.

Though skirmishes still occur and the war has not yet been brought
to a close—neither we not the world are yet perfected—we
know that the victory is already won by God in Christ reconciling
the world to Godself.

Indeed, the Easter Proclamation can say that “This is
the night when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death and rose
triumphant from the grave. ... Night truly blessed when heaven
is wedded to earth and humanity is reconciled to God!”

The completion of creation has already begun, and is breaking
forth into the light of day.

We have only to recognize it, and freely to give ourselves to
the One who is doing this great New Deed. [Heb 12:22–29]